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Published by tlie Union Republican Coueressional Committee, Wa5Lingt<>c, D. C 



PEACE OR WA 




THE DEMOCRATIC POSITION ILLUSTRATED BY 
,^ ,0 FRANK P. BL/IR, Jk. 



Speeches of Senators Morton of Indiana, Stewart and Nye of Nevada, 

Delivered in the United States Senate, Thursday and Friday, July 9th and 10th, 1868, on 
tJie bill offered by Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, to regulate the counting of Hhe, Elec- 
toral vote. 



Mr. MORTON, said: 

Mr. President ; I do not rise so much to 
discuss tlie merits of these several proposi- 
tions as to say that I nhall vote for that of- 
fered by the Senator from Vermont, [Mr. 
Edmunds,] believing (hat it is more specific 
and direct than the c ther two ; but perhaps 
anyone of (liem would answer the purpose. 

I desire, however, to say one word in re- 
gard to the importance of this measuie. We 
have been noting the proceedings of a con- 
vention held in the city of New York, which 
has bait just adjourned. I have read the i-es- 
olntlons adopted by that convention, the plat- 
form of principles it has laid down, and 
upon whici. us candidates have been placed ; 
and I wish to call the attention of the Sen- 
ate to the issue that is presented to the coun- 
try by this platform and by the character of 
these candidates. 

General Grant, in his letter of acceptance, 
said, " Let us have peace;" but the Demo- 
cratic party by their Convention in New 
York have said, •' Let us have war'; there 
shall be no peace." They have declared in 
substance, I might say perhaps, in direct 
t^erme, that the reconstruction of these States 
under the several acts of Congress shall not 
be permitted to stand, Imt shall be over- 
turned by military force if they get the power. 
They have announced that there shall be no 
peace in this country ; that there shall be no 
settlement of our troubles except upon the 
condition of tlie triumph of those who have 
been in rebellion. This pUxtiorm and these 
nominations arc a declaration of renewal of 
the rebellion. Let m.e call your attention to 
a part of the eighth resolution in regard to 
this very question. In speaking of tlie re- 
construction of the States, they go on to say 
that the power to regulate suffrage exists with 
"each State," making no difference between 



loyal States that have been at peace and 
States that have been in rebellion, putting 
them all upon the same footing : 

" And that any attempt by C«ngies8 on any pretpxf 
whittever — " 

That is, upon the "pretext" of the rel">el- 
iion, if you please — 

"to deprive the State of tbis riglit, or intorforo vvitb its 
exercise, is a flagnint usurpMticjji of power wijieli can 
find no warrant in the Constitution ; and, if sanctioneil 
by the people, will subvert our form of Govf'fn.'neiit "' 



Read the rest of it. 
Yes, sir, I will read th*: 



Mr. HOWARD. 
Mr. MORTON, 
balance of it: 

"And can only end in a single centralized an.i win- 
aolidated Government, in which the eepuitito exist- 
ence of the States will bo entirely ab!^ort>ed, and an 
unqualified despotism be established in place of a Fed- 
eral Union of coequal States, and that we regard the 
reconstruction acts (so-called) of Congress, as eoch 
usurpations, and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and 
void." 

This convention has called upon the rebels 
of the South to regard these governments 
organized by autlioritj' of acts of Congress 
by the people of those States as usurpations, 
unconstitutional, and void, and has thereby in- 
vited them again to insurrection and rebellion. 
That is what that resolution means. There 
is where the Democratic party has placed 
itself and its candidate, that there shall be 
no acquiescence in the action of Congre.s.s, 
but that continued resistance is and shall be 
their policy. They have replied to General 
(irant by saying, " There shall be no pe<tce, 
but the war shall be renewed." There can 
be no other policy for that party unless it ac- 
quiesces. If it does not accept these recon- 
struction acts there can be no policy but that 
of resistance and a renewal of the war. — 
They decrlare these reconstruction acts to be 
uncoustiiational and void. Being void, no- 
body is bound to regard them ; they ha\'c no 
authority over any one to coerce or to pun- 



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V 



ish, and nuiy be resisted by any one with 
impunity. That is not the language of thin 
resolution, but it is the substance and the 
meaning of it j and in consequence of this 
it receivedidhe indorsement and the appro- 
bation of tne hundreds of rebels who were 
in that Convention from the South, men who 
organized the rebel government ami organ- 
ized and led the rebel armied in battle. This, 
then, is the issue, a continuance of the war ; 
a renewal of the rebellion ; because it is 
either that, or it is submission and acquies- 
cence to what has been done. 

But, Mr. President, we are not left to 
grope for the meaning of this convention : 
we are not left even to seek for it by infer- 
ence^ We have a letter of General Francis 
P. Blair, written, I believe, less than one 
week ago, and this letter has been indorsed 
by that Convention this afternoon by his 
nomination as their candidate for tho Vice 
Presidency. At least I am informed that 
he has been nominated. 

Mr. POMEROY. Let us have the letter 
read. I want to hear it. 

Mr. MORTON. It is as much a part of 
this platform as if it was incorporated in it, 
for the ink was hardly dry before it was in- 
dorsed by his nomination. I ask the Secre- 
taiy to read the letter. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

WAsnixoTON, June 30, 1868. 

Dkar Colonel: In reply to your inquiri(>a I bog leave 
towky that I leave to you todotermiuo, on consultation 
with my friends from Missouri, whether my name shall 
be prt)«<;utf<l to the Democratic convontion, uud ty sub- 
mit the following, aa what I consider the real and only 
issue in this contest : 

The reconstruction policy of the Radicals willtve com- 
plete before the next election ; tho States ho long ex- 
cluded will hjive been admitted; negro suffrage entab- 
lisho<l and the carpet-baggers installed in their seats in 
both branches of Congress. There is no possibility of 
changing the political character of tho Senate, even if 
tho Uemocnvts should elect their President and a miyor- 
ity of tho popular branch of Congress. Wo cunnot, 
therefore', undo the Radical plan of r_*coiigtruction by 
congreesional action; the Senate will continue a bar to 
its reix!al. Must we submit to it ? How cau it bo over- 
throwuf It c;\u only l>e overthrown by the authority 
rf t'l'- I'.vci-utive wh'i is sworn t" in.iint:i;ii th'' (?o isti- 
t.iiion, and v«*jo will f;«l to do his duty if he allows the 
Coimtitiition to perish under a series of congressional 
eiModnents which are in palpable violation of its fund- 
amental principles. 

If tho President elected by th« Democracy enforces 
or pei-mits others to enforce those reconstruction 
act*, tho r>.adio".Us by the accession of twenty spurious 
Senators and fifty Representatives will control both 
branches of Coiig;wH, and his atlministration will be a^ 
jxiworloss aa the present one of Mr. Johnson. 

TlK-rQ in but one way to restore the Government and 
theConstlttitioa, an/i t^hat is for the President-elect to 
de<-tun! the^e acts null iiud void, compel tho Army to 
urnio its usurixitionsat the South, disi)erso tho carpet- 
bug Stito griverumnuts, allow the white people to reor- 
ganize their own governments, and eliKt Senators and 
Kei/resontatiyes. The House of R<'presentativea will 
roiitain a majority of Democrats frum the North, and 
they will iwlmit the Repuesentativitg elected by the 
white pcopleof tho South, and with tho co-openUion of 
the President ic will not be difficult to compel tho Son- 
ttte to miljnut once more to the obligations of tho Con- 
stitution. It will not be able to withstand the public 



judgment, if distinctly involred and clearly expressed 
on this fundamental iseue, and it is tho sure way tg 
avoid all future strife to put the issue plainly to the 
country. 

1 re[)eat that this is the real and only question which 
we should allow to control us; shall we submit to tho 
uitirpatious by which tho Government has been over- 
throw n, or shall we exert ourselves for its full and com- 
ploto restoration? It is idle to talk of iKjnds, green- 
backs, gold, tho public faith, nnd th ■ pv-I-'ic credit. 
What can a Democratic President do iu n;gard lu ajiy 
of these with a Congress in both branches controlhtl 
by the carpet-baggers smd their allies? lie will bo 
powerless to stop the supplier by which idle negroes 
are organized into political clubs — 'by which an army 
is maintiiined to protect these vagal'Onds m their out- 
rages upon the ballot, Thesi', and things like these, eat 
up tho revenues and resources of the Government and 
destroy its credit — make the difference between gold 
and greenbacks. Wo must restore tho C<:)nstituiion be- 
fore we can restore the finances, and to do this we must 
have a President who will execute tho will of the peo- 
ple by trampling into dust the usurpations of Congress 
known as the reconstruction acts. 1 wish tostand before 
tho convention upon this issue, but it is one which em- 
braces everything else that is of value in its large and 
comprehensive results. It is thoone thing that includes 
all that is worth a contest, and without it there i.-i noth- 
ing that gives dignitv, honor, or value to tlw struggle. 
Your friend, " FR.A.NK P. BLAIR. 

Colonel Jambs 0. Broadhead. 

Mr. MORTON,. Mr. President, that is 
the Democratic platform. General Blair, 
whatever you may say of him, is a bold, out- 
spoken man, and he spoke the sentiment of 
that Convention. He says, " Upon these 
sentiments I. want to stand before the Con- 
vention ;" and upon those sentintents he was 
nominated. Therefore, I say that tlie lan- 
guage of the Democratic Convention at New 
York to the whole country is war ; resistance 
by force of arms to Congressional legislation; 
the overthrow by force of arms of tho govern- 
ments that have been erected in the rebel 
States under the laws enacted by Congress ; 
the continuance of this rebellion ; continu- 
ance of this struggle in a somewhat difForent 
form, but still the same struggle, contending 
for the same principles. It is now amiounced 
formally, not at Moutgomery, not at Rich- 
mond, but at New York. The country need 
not be at any loss to understand the charac- 
ter of the contest upon which we ar.e enter- 
ing. It is not one uf pence :i;i:i ;.cquie.- 
cence, of consolidatidn whereby the ravages 
of war may be rej^alred ; but it is a new de- 
claration of war ; a new announcement of 
the rebellion under somewhat different cir- 
cumstances, but under circumstances formid- 
able, danpt;-ous, and solumn. Let the coun- 
try look tlie struggle in the face. 

General Blair has said truly that all that is 
said about greenbacks and bonds and ques- 
tions of finance is mere nonsense. The great 
issue is the question of overturning the new 
State governments by force, tlie restoration 
of the power of the rebels, or as thoy call it 
the white men's government in those States, 
and all the rest is leather and prunnella. 
We owe a debt of gratitude to General Blair 
for his frankness. There need be no -decep- 



lion practiced now, and there can be none. 
If Seymour shall be elected upon that plat^ 
form he stands^ pledged to use the army of 
the United States for the pui-pose of over- 
ttirning the governments that have been e«- 
tablislicd in the South by the voice of tlie 
whole people, and by that aniky to place the 
power back again into the hands of the rebels. 
They were there with him in that Conven- 
tion. They h»'e given to him their counsel. 
They have indorsed Mr. Seymour, and the 
Convention and all have indorsed General 
Francis P. Blair. 

I know that we shall be told in the North- 
west that they intend to have the same cur- 
rency for the Government and the people, 
for the bondholder and the laborer. They 
will proclaim taxation of the bonds, as the 
great issue upon which they expect to get 
votes ; but that will be a deception. The 
great issue underlying the whole contest — 
and we have the solemn declaration of their 
candidate for Vice President to that effect — 
wiU be the renewal of the war to overturn 
the State governments that have just been es- 
tablished under the acts of Congress. Gen- 
eral Blair has relieved tJie R-epubliciin party 
©f a great deal of labor. He has unmasked 
the enemy with whom we have to deal, and 
be has placed before the country the very 
issue, peace or war. 



SPEECH OF SENATOR STEWART. 

Mr. President, I see the embarrassment 
under which the Democratic party is labor- 
ing; and the misfortune that has befallen it 
to-uay will no doubt embarrass it still more 
hereafter. I see the embarrassment that this 
particular bill presents to the members of 
that party. Individuals of that party say 
they intend revolution, and Frank P. Blair 
sought to be nominated upon that issue- 
He avows his purpose of overturning seven 
States of this Union now entitled to repre- 
sentation upon this floor. He will do it by 
revolution. He says it cannot be done by 
legislation, because the Senate is in the way ; 
it must be done by force- I have been read- 
ing the platform, and I find that it dodges the 
question and declares that the reconstruction 
measures are unconstitutional and void. 

The Democratic party, it appears, are un- 
willing to say, in express language, what they 
intend to do with a portion of the States ia 
this Union, whether they intend agaiji to put 
them out. The Democratic party once broke 
np the governments of those States ; we have 
partial^ restored them. None of them liave 
come square up to tlie point except Mr. 
Fi-ank Blair. He has come up fo it pretty 
squarely. I do not understand the Senator 
irom Pennsylvania on that issue. 



I say this bill is undoubtedly embarrassing 
to. them, because we tell them exactly what 
we intend to do ; that we intend, that every 
State restored to representation in this 
Union, that shall have been reorganized, 
shall vote and participate in the Presidential 
election ; that no disorganized rebel State 
shall vote ; that all the States represented 
in Congress shall vote. I'hat is the exact 
rule which we followed in 1864, and for 
which the Senator from Pennsylvania him- 
self voted. We intend to take that broad, 
honest ground in advance ; and we do not 
fear the threats of individuals, or of the 
whole Democratic party, that they will again 
attempt to destroy this Government. We 
want to have it distinctly understood that 
none but legitimate State governments shall 
be represented in Congress and the Electoral 
College, and that they shall be represented ; 
and then we want to see which side of that 
issue the Democratic party will take. I 
know that it is embarrassing to them to ad- 
mit that the work of reconstruction is legal- 
ly, ju.stly, and honestly progressing, notwith- 
standing all the obstructions that the Execu- 
tive, that an organized band of rebels in the 
South, that the organized Democracy, and 
all the elements that are bad in this country 
put together, have been able to throw in tlie 
way. Notwithstanding all the obstructions 
of these elements that are attempting to de- 
stroy our country, the work is progressing — 
the States are being restored. We shall not 
be scared because the gentlemen who have 
organized these governments in' the South, 
and have come here backed up by a loyal 
constituency, are denounced as '' carj>et- 
baggers" by the rebel leaders in New York, 
who treated as honored guests Foirest and 
Wade Hampton. We had to fight once be- 
fore against the same horde of men, many 
of the leaders of whom were in New York. 

We know that they are powerful, but we 
whipped them once. Let tliem try again to 
pull down the Government that we build up. 
Let them laugh at the " carpet-baggers " as 
much as they please. We have seen all the 
schemes they concocted vanish into thin air. 
We know Seymour. He is not ready to rev- 
olutionize. I hold in my hand a speech of 
his made in 1863 which has enough sophis- 
try, if it had been accompanied by the cour- 
age of a Hampton or a^ Forrest, to have 
plunged the North into civil war. He dare 
not lay his hand upon a State that we i-eor- 
ganize. Frank Blair is a braver man and 
an honester man, and he told plainly what 
they would like to do; but I tell you, sir, 
the Democracy dare not come up and say 
that the^ will tear down a single State cif 
this Umon. They dare not go before the 
people on that issue. 

This is no new doctrine. It has been chs 



4 



cussed over and over in this Hall. Let the 
Democracy, if they dare, go before the coun- 
try saying tnat they will tear down and put 
out of the Union the seven reorganized 
States. I should like to have them sound 
the tocsin of war and see if the American 
people are prepared for another revolution. 
What Frank Blair says means revolution. 
These men cannot be turned from these 
Halls e-xcept by violence ; these State organ- 
izations cannot be overthrown except by the 
shedding of blood. 

Mr. HOWARD. It cannot be done in 
that way either. 

Mr. STEWART. It cannot be done by 
modern Democracy in that way ; and when 
they dare announce any such purpose they 
will have fewer foliowers than they had on 
a former occasion. I have before me their 
platform. They are going to pretend to the 
ignorant and the vicious that this means "we 
will wipe out of existence every State that 
has been redeemed," and when they meet a 
man who has a little money and does not 
want to go to war they will say " we are op- 
posed to violence and willing to let things 
take their own course." 

I want to pass tliis bill beforehand. I d® 
not want to wait until after the election has 
taken place and then pass a law which they 
will call ex post facta. I want the people 
to know exactly what they are voting on, and 
who has a right to vote, before the election, so 
as to avoid any unpleasant consequences. 
The people of the United States want no 
more revolution, no more war. The people 
of the South do not believe they can subju- 
gate us. They do not believe they can re- 
verse the verdict of the war. They cannot 
humiliate the Union soldiers who sustained 
the old flag. 

Now, what is there in this bill? It is sim- 
ply a declaration that the States represented 
in Congress that have been organized shall 
vote iu the Electoral College, and none 
others. The Senator from Pennsylvania 
says that unless the disorganized vote the 
organized shall not ; that unless you let the 
three disorganized States that have not yet 
complied with our terms, that are not repre- 
sented in Congress, vote, the represented 
States shall not vote. What does that mean? 
The Democratic party will not let organized 
States, States represented in these Halls, 
vote. I will not discuss the power of Con- 
gress, but I say there is not power enough 
in the Democratic party, with the Executive 
at their head, to maintain the position that 
they can put one of these States out of the 
Union. How are you going to prevent one 
of tliese States from voting ? How are you 
going to prevent her vote from being 
counted? In no other way than by putting 
her out of the Union. 



If that is the hew declaration of war we 
are to meet let us know the fact now, and 
let us light the battle before the people on 
that issue. The necessity of this bill has be- 
come apparent from this discussion. We 
want to know what are the purposes of this 
party, whether they mean revolution or 
whether they mean peace ; whether they 
mean war and rapine and plunder and over- 
throw of the Government, and the preven- 
tion of the represented States from voting, 
or whether they mean to submit to the law. 
I think the Democratic party have had 
enough of war. I think they have had 
enough of tearing down States. But perhaps 
the ovation which the rebel generals re- 
ceived in New York has inspired them with 
new hope, and they think the "little un- 
pleasantness" did not amount to much after 
all. Perhaps they are prepared to join the 
Northern Democracy in another effort to put 
States out of the Union, and to overthrow 
State organizations ; but I think they will 
hesitate a little. 

It is well enough for us to make the declar 
ation contained in this bill, so that the peo- 
ple will know where we stand ; but it is not 
to be supposed that the Democratic party 
are going to declare anything affirmatively 
on such a question. After having destroyed 
their best men by the two-thirds rule, and 
having got men that we are accustomed to, 
that we know all about, we have no appre- 
hensions. We all know the connection of 
Seymour with New York politics during the 
war. We know hov/ he acted during the 
New York riots. We know how his appeals 
to his friends in the city of New York af- 
fected the loyal masses of the country. We, 
know hov/ we in the West felt at the obstruc- 
tion of Seymour to the progress of the war. 
We know what power he had then, and we 
believe that he evinced a disposition, if he 
had had the requisite courage to^ack liis dis- 
position, to plunge the whole country in war. 
We have seen him go as far up to the verge 
of revolution as he dare go, but he has had a 
little experience since then. 

I hold in my hands now a speech of Hon. 
Horatio Seymour, delivered on the 4th oi 
July, 1SG3, a speech that I have read on sev- 
eral occasi ons. It is a speech full of fault- 
finding with the Government, putting ideaa 
in "the minds of the people to make them 
dissatisfied, complaining of your sectional 
strife and your sectional war, calculated in 
every way to breed discontent ; and this, 
too, when the country was in the most im- 
minent peril. At that critical time, instead 
of coming forward and vindicating the au- 
thority of the Government, we find Horatio 
Seymour filling the minds of the people with 
distrust and reverting to the mistakes of the 
Government. With a stern Governor oi 



New York, such a Governor uo Indiana had, 
there would have been no New York riots. 
With huch a Governor us Ohio had there 
would have been no New York riottf. 1'he 
weight of tiiat great .State, the moral influ- 
ence of its Governor wa^ thrown against the 
cause of the Union in such a manner and at 
such a time as to prolong the war, I verily 
believe, more than one whole year. Thnft 
Governor iiad all his predictions falsified, 
for he predicted failure all the time. Afteif 
having seen our arms ride triumphant over 
a thou.sand battle-fields; after having seen 
the rebellion put down; after having seen 
the loyal Congres.*; engaged for four years in 
reconstruction and restoration, he is now 
the candidate of tho.se oppjosed to the gal- 
lant leader of the armies that saved the na- 
tion. That noble man is at the head of the 
great party who conducted the war, and who 
have been endeavoring, against the efforts 
of rebels, Democrats and the Executive, to 
restore this Government. I say that after 
all this Seymour has not the nerve to do 
what this platform intimates that the Demo- 
cmcy will do, namely, tear down the States 
that have been built up. 

SPEECH OF SENATOR J. W. NYE. 

Mr. President, I care but little whether 
the amendment ©CFered by the Senator from 
New York is adopted or not. It amounts to 
about tlie same thing as the original propo- 
sition. But I am not wiHing to let go un- 
challenged the things' that have come from 
the honorable Senator from Kentucky. — 
While he has been speaking I have thought 
whether there should not be a change in the 
form of the Lord's Prayer in Kentucky: 
'f Give us this day our daily bread, if consist- 
eiit with the Constitution; but be sure, 
Ijord, give us white bread made for white 
men." That form, I think, would be adap- 
ted to the creed which the honorable Sena- 
tor has just proposed. 

In the course of an existence as, long as 
that of the honorable Senator from Ken- 
tucky, thf re is hardly a phase of political 
life that he has not seen. I was forcibly 
impressed with that in his allusion to 1840. 
Where, then, was the honorable Senator's 
heart? 

Mr. DAVIS. Exactly where it is now, for 
the Union, tho Constitution, and the enforce- 
ment of the law. 

Mr. NYE. I recollect very distinct],. at 
very year hearing the distinguished Sen.ilor 
denounce the Democracy in more unmias- 
ured terms than he is capable of denouncing 
the Ivepublican party. They had beaten his 
pet, Mr. Clay, and he never haa forgiven 
them. He came here at the commencement 



of this rebellion a strong Union man ; and 
he says now that he hugs to his very soul a 
platform that disunionists have made. I 
merely suggest these things to show that 
where next he may be found, the Lord only 
knows, in the new catechism which Ken- 
tucky may put forth. 

lie has spoken of the barbarities of some 
negro chieftain, whose name I did not un- 
der.itand, of whom he read. And yet thoso 
barbarities jmle into insignificance in com- 
parison with the butchery of Forrest at Fort 
Pillow ; and he was one of the men who 
made the platform that my honorable friend 
loves so well. Above all men living, the 
honorable Senator is the last one, if he can 
hug Buch a thing to his bosom, to be shocked 
at the barbarities of barbarism, untutored as 
it is. 

Mr. President, the honorable Senator says 
that the Republican party wLU die. So.it 
wi'il. So will the honorable Senator die. So 
will all the j>arties he has belonged to die. 
But, sir, the fruits that this Republican party 
has brought forth will never die. They have 
not expended their strength, like the hon- 
orable Senator, la trj'ing to depress a race 
numbering fourmillions in our midst. They 
have not taxed their ingenuity to find argu- 
ments by which they could make the bonds 
with w'hich the felaves were bound strong, 
llielr lioast Is, and will be when the honora- 
ble Senator's memory will be forgotten, that 
they felt for those who were in bonds as 
though they were bound with them, and 
broke tlic shackles that made man a slave. 
Let the honorable Senator and his colleagues 
and his coadjutors glory in their oppression, 
and glory in the fact that they have trampled 
the oppressed deeper in the mire of ojjpres- 
sion where they found them. But, •sir, let 
it be my boast and the boast of the party to 
which I belong, that there is not a man so 
low but what they would elevate him to the 
pure, highest heavens where angels dwell. 
Sir, that seems to me to be more in accord- 
ance with the spirit of our Master ; that is 
more in accordance with the spirit of repub- 
lican institutions ; and that sentiment will 
grow. Let not the honorable Senator think 
that that sentiment will die. No, sir, it is 
now having its second birth amid the ti-ou- 
bles and conflicts and toils of arms and civil 
strife. 

Sir, I witnessed the gathering from whicli 
salvation is to come, which the honorable 
Senator perches upon and proclaims to be 
his roost during the campaign. I witnessed 
this organization. I looked in upon it. 
What did I see? I wish I had a Hogarth's 
pencil to sketch it, or words in which I could 
convey the faintest idea of that group of 
indescribable animals. Wlio was there? 
Wade Hampton ; and at the mentioa 



of his name the Democracy Bhouted hy 
order. That is what they cull "fraternal 
love." Who elso was there? Rhctt, of 
South Carolina ; it ought to be spelled with 
a ch. Who else was here? Hammond, who 
pronounced the people of the color of my 
honorable friend "mud-sills." Oh, what a 
source to look to for salvation 1 Who else 
was there ? Forrest, the butcher. No 
milder name is lit to use as descriptive of 
him — a man who coldly murdered by order 
defenseless men who stacked their arms and 
surrendered. Tell me, sir, what kind of 
salvation you will get from that source ? 
And where were they? lu the largest city 
cpon this continent. With whom were they 
associated? With men of the North. There 
sat Forrest and Seymour, the latter presid- 
ing over the deliberation.s, as they were 
called, at this convocation of unclean things- 
Whose voices were heard first? Men whose 
hands were red with loyal blood. Oh, the 
spirit of fraternity there exhibited I They 
always agreed. One was a traitor with a 
sword, and the other a traitor without a 
sword ; that was all the difference. But 
how my honorable friend from Kentucky 
hugs their progeny ! A sweet thing to hug 1 
May your embrace be long and enduring ! 

Mr. President, what is this thing that the 
honorable Senator hugs so fondly ? A green- 
back platform ^vith an anti-greenback can- 
didate. 

Mr. SHERMAN. A greyback. 

Mr. NYE. A greyback candidate. 

Mr. SUMNER. On a greyback platform. 

Mr. NYE. That is what I say. It is a 
platform for peace and a general for lieuten- 
ant on it, second in command, and a gen- 
eral who was nominated by rebels. I think, 
if my recollection is correct, an honorable 
gentleman from Kentucky nominated Fi-ank 
Blair. I do not wonder that my honorable 
friend loves the platform. It is a platform 
whose every line and lineament is marked 
with repudiation. Is it for that that the dis- 
tinguished Senator hugs it? It is a platform 
whose every lino is a fraud and almost every 
word a lie ; a platform of professions in 
which they do not believe, of hope to the 
head to be broken to the heart. That is the 
platform on which my honorable friend ex- 
pects to_ ride into that happy haven where 
he is going to look with so much compla- 
cency, much as he describes Grant looking 
upon the battle-field, upon the destruction 
of the hosts of the Republican party. 
Perched«iaway up on that uncertain roost he 
is going to have his vi<^ioa satisfied by look- 
ing upon the ruins of those below. In 1864 
1 read a speech at quite a distance from 
here in which the honorable Senator was 
fully as sanguine" in expression at least a.s 
now, that iu 18G4 the Rcpublicnn party were 



t-o be demolished ; birt the RepubHcan party 
survived both the prediction of the honora- 
ble Senator and the power of his opposition. 

Sir, to these saNTOurs we are to look. — 
These are the men to whom in these troub- 
lous times my honorable friend from Ken- 
tucky and those who act with him turn for 
protection. Who are they? Men who are 
yet counting the notches upon their swords 
that they wore gallantly by their sides for 
four or five years in an earnest, terrible 
struggle to overthrow this country. They are 
the saviours now who are going to uphold 
them ! How are they going to uphold ihem? 
By overturning all that has been done to 
build up the waste places they made. Wlien 
a man is sick he seeks a physician the most 
skillful he can find. When a nation is troub- 
led the people seeks the friends of the na- 
tion to uphold it. They feel its pulsations. 
They want men loyal to the country, loyal <b 
our institutions. There is where 1 look for 
help, for aid in this struggle. But my hon- 
orable friend and the Democratic host wifti 
which he is surrounded look to the rebels. 
They will give you such protection as vul- 
tures give to lambs. They will give you th« 
protection that Forrest gave at Fort Pillow, 
and the thousand bloody fields upon which 
we met. What, sir, trust a man with a bal- 
lot to upheld this country who has been for 
five years with the bullet trying to overthrow 
it ! It is an insult to the intelligence of the 
world J and I assure the honorable Senator 
from Kentuclvy the world will not swallow 
the hook as greedily as he has, nor hug a 
platform so full of dead men's bones. 

Mr. President, on earth or in heaven I 
would rather be found by the side of the 
blackest man in the country than with For- 
rest. How •will stand the account of the 
loyal black man that has been led by the ivn- 
certain glimpses of his vision to follow that 
flag which had heretofore only been a sym- 
bol of oppression to him, and followed it 
faithfully to the end ; how will his account 
stand in the day of judgment with tlie God 
who loves liberty and of whom liberty was 
born, beside the man who did all in his 
power to tear down the fairest fabric that 
liberty ever reared ? and such is Forrest ; 
such is Wade Hampton ; such is all the 
Democratic party in the Southern States. 
There are not enough menin the Democratic 
party in the Southern States who were not 
rebels to count as "scattering;" and there- 
fore I shall not hereafter in what I have to 
say of them draw any distinction. 

I want this resolution introduced by the 
honorable vSenator from Vermont to guard 
against the very catastrophe that the honor- 
able Senator from Kentucky threatens us 
with. Sir, is Congress to inquire, and who 
is to keep regi.ster whether the votes cast for 



General Grant are cast by colored men or 
white men? Who is going to see in the 
books when the ballot is deposited, which 
class of men it was who deposited it? Are 
the honorable Senators and his confreres 

Sing to have censors upon the box? Are 
ey going to stamp the ballot of the white 
man and not sf-amp the ballot of the black 
man? If not, what docs the honorable 
Senator mean when he defiantly tolls us that 
no matter what Congress may do, the vote 
that the white man casts will be the vote that 
is counted. Sir, I repudiate all such non- 
sense as that, as it appears to me to be. 

But, sir, the honorable Senator has spo- 
ken very confidently of what the Democracy 
are going to do. I want to mention to the 
honorable Senator one or two things which 
the Republicans have done that will stay 
done. We have given the loyal men of the 
Southern States the ballot. Now, take it 
away, if you can, and show us the process 
by which you will do it. Let us see what 
you will do it with. They have availed 
themselves of that ballot. They have de- 
posited it ; they have put on the garment of 
citizenship, and I challenge the Democracy 
to touch one thread of that garment. It is 
stamped, it is sealed with the insignia of 
freedom, and I charge you lay not your 
hands upon it. Sir, it is the decree, of a 
mighty people as irrevocable as the decree 
of God, and the honorable Senator may sat- 
isfy himself on that point. And the honor- 
able Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Btjcic- 
ALETw] last night seemed to be waiting for 
the voice of the people. Sir, you have had 
it twice; and the same voice that emanated 
from heaven is echoed back by man, Vox 
popvli vox Dei. Touch not that seal ; it is 
the freeman's power. I defy you to take it 
from him. Attempt that and bloodier 
scenes will be re-enacted upon the already 
freeh bloody fields. Sir, men fight for free- 
dom. They will not lay it down. They 
have fought for freedom upon the battle- 
titiid ; they won their quit-claim to liberty ; 
they have got it ; and let not the Democratic 
party dream of taking it away. And yet, 
gir, the honorable Senator, or those who act 
with him, find no sort of awakening, enliven- 
ing sentiment from this great fact, but the 
contrary. 

Sir, there has not been a transaction on 
eiirth since the crucifixion that thrilled the 
world with such ecstatic joy as when the 
last shackle of the slave was broken and fell 
at his feet. Music never reached its perfec- 
tion until they sang the song of universal 
freedom ; and if I was at all accustomed to 
deal in fancy I could fancy now that I hear 
the angel chorus catching up the sound 
''Peace on earth and good will to man ; the 
last slav€ is free; liberty is iriumpiiant."' 



But over thrs my Democratic friends feel no 
jubilee. It is a source of mourning to them. 
Weep on, weep on ; the seal is set ; the 
Democratic party will never again have pow- 
er in this nation until it changes its princi- 
ples, until it ceases to be oppressive and 
learns to glory in freedom. 

I am strengthened in this conviction by the 
proceedings of the last Democratic Conven- 
tion. Whoever saw two such elements of 
weakness combined ? If there was any folly 
in the Republican party, the wisdom of God 
has come in. Who could have conceived 
that two such men would have been born ©f 
that Democratic Convention. Blair, (to be- 
gin with the last and most unimportant first,) 
who, as restless as the spirit that fomented 
rebellion in heaven, who acknowledges no 
discipline to man or law, "a law unto him- 
self;" who throws an defiantly to such patri- 
ots as Hampton and Forrest that the only 
way to put these States into their original 
status is for the President to take the helm 
and drive this Senate ou»t. No wonder that 
it woke an echo in Wade Hampton's bosom 
and in Forrest's and in Hammond's ; it was 
the old signal for rebellion again. They 
were going to get a Blair to lead them in that 
rebellion. The world knows that the health 
of the gentleman they have nominated for 
President is very precarious, and he refused, 
as many times as Cajsar did the crown, to 
take it on account of his health. They have 
put forwaad this ticket in point of physical 
strength like the hyena, the strength in the 
hind legs to endure disease, its weak man 
ahead to be shoved of as Lincoln was, or in 
some other way, and then they will have got 
not only old rebels, but a new one with the 
whole machinery of government. It is well 
planned, and no wonder it awoke echoes of 
ecstacy in Forrest's and Hampton's bosom 
when they heard the name of Blair and his 
letter; and that is the platform and that the 
candidate that my friend from Kentucky 
loves so well. 

Sir who is nominated for President? A 
man that I have known all my life ; and a 
gentlemanly man he is undoubtedly, but no 
unsounder man, politically, walks than he. I 
listened last night to a little running debate 
between my colleague and my honored friend 
from Pennsylvania, in which the latter bore 
testimony to the patriotism and fidelity of 
the then Governor of New York. I took oc- 
casion to reread last night the speech made 
by that distinguished gentleman on the 4th 
of July, 1 8G3, just tendays before the bloodiest 
riot in the world. It was a terrible day, that 
4th of July, for the rebels ; there came up a 
wail of woe from the rebels at Vicksburg and 
at Gettysburg. 

On that day, after a draft had been ordered 
by the President of the ¥nited States to 611 



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013 789 154 2 



up the ranks, the head of this ticket was ad- 
dressing a Democratic meeting in a hall in 
the city of New York, and he said^that the 
law of necessity was never to be invoked by 
a nation, and said, not in the precise words, 
and they are here, that the mob could in- 
voke the law of necessity as well as a nation. 
8ir, quick as the lightning's flash and a^ 
electric in its inlluence the mob did arise, 
caught np the idea that liad been slumbering, 
touched the torch which ingulfed a city in 
blood, and fatal were the consequences of 
that riot. I think eleven thousand — I am 
not quite certain as to the number — troops 
had to be taken from the army of the Poto- 
mac; a largo number of troops had to be 
taken to the city of New York, the chief 
magistrate of which State is now at the head 
of the Democratic ticket, to do what? To 
keep peace in that city and to enforce the 
drafting of men and to put down the spirit 
of rebellion wliich was as rife there as at 
Charleston. The world will not forget the 
correspondence between Governor Seymour 
and General Dix, and 1 remember how my 
blood jumped a little quicker, old as I am, 
when the General informed the Governor at 
a certain time that he had troops enough 
there then to preserve the city and take care 
of him, too. Oh, such a patriot! Sir, if you 
look for salvation from that mob engendered 
by him go look at the ashes of the colored 
orphan asylum in Now York. Would it have 
done the heart of the Senator from Kentucky 
good to have seen demons in human shape 
beating out the brains of black infancy? 
Look at the lurid lightof the hospital reared 
by the best charity in the world. Look at the 
murder of O'Brien who v/as brutally hanged 
and his form mutilated worse than would 
have been done by the barbarians whom the 
honorable Senator described this morning. 
This Governor addressed these bloody-hand- 
ed scoundrels, and called them "friends." 
They were his friends; they are to-day; it is 
no misnomer. They caught np the torch 
which ho lighted; they had performed the 
work; he was congratulating them upon it, 
aad he addressed thom as "friends." They 
received him as such. lie is. 

Sir, I want the rule proposed by this joint 
resolution prescribed by legislation. I want 
no more trouble in this matt-er. We have 
wooed these States as a mother wooes her 
first-born. We have given them milk in their 
weakness and meat in their strength. We 
have invited them back time after time to 
the mansion where there is bread enough 
and to spare, but they would not como. 
Now, sir, I do net propose that they shall 
come under the liery or erratic lead of Blair 
or Seymour, and breaJc int;o the mansion, 



the door of which they have heretofore re- 
fused to enter. To do that they shall, at 
least so far as my vote is concerned, broa-k 
over the forms of law. 

Mr. President, indulge me in a word more. 
It is said that in Union there is strength. We 
have a platform made v/ith entire unanimity. 
But recently, for four or five sv/eltering hot 
days in the city of New Yoi-Ic, in that new- 
born Babel of Tammany, did hundreds of 
Democrats sweat, voting for this man and 
that man, with no result, and all the time 
there was a deep laid plan, which the mass 
of them did not comprehend, to get the very 
man they have got. [ cannot help contrast- 
ing in my mind that Convention with the one 
! at Chicago. The Convention at Chicago had 
just twice as many delegates as the one at 
I New York. The firet thing done there was 
! to make a j)latform on which they all a^eed, 
j and the next thing was to nominate a Presi- 
i dent, and each State was called and e^oh 
i State answered until six hundred and three 
i delegates had spoken, and every vote was for 
I one man right off, without any caucus, with- 
out any consultation. They looked to him as 
tlie child looks to it-s father for protection. 
They remembered the thousand victories to 
which he had led them, and their eyes as in- 
voluntary turned upon him as a leader in the 
civil strife as in the strife of arms. To me 
that was a noble and inspiring sight. Let 
not the honorable Senator from Kentucliy 
believe that such unity of- sentiment is to be 
overborneby thi.^ fragmentary party called 
Democratic. 

Let me refer to another difference. W •» 
have a warrior at the head and a man of 
peace emphatically as the second nominee, 
a man whose name is written as firmly and 
as boldly on the civil page of his country's 
history as Genoeal Grant's is on the military 
page. When Grant was leading our armies 
against the hosts of rebellion it was prophe- 
sied that Lee would never suiTcnder. Now, 
the Senator from Kentucky, bolder, braver, 
and less considerate than Lee, says that this 
platform with its backers will never surren- 
der. Let him that casteth off his armor 
boast ; not he that putteth it on- Sir, there 
will not bo enough of it for formal surrender. 
They will be suffered to go home withont 
terms. Their arms are worthle.-s, for they 
are the arms of errar ; their weapons are 
powerless, becau.se they are untnithful. No, 
sir ; my gallant friend from Kentucky will 
have to seek alliliation with another party 
before he gets in a majority. He will have 
to join the army of progress and freedom, 
hitching to no snub-post of the past, but 
marching on to that haven of destiny of man 
where all men shall be equal before the law. 



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